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Texas just got closer to blackouts than it has since 2021. What happened?

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Re: Texas just got closer to blackouts than it has since 2021. What happened?

#91

Post by Buttons840 »

actionfromafar wrote: post #10
probablyexists wrote: post #3

Don't worry, Texas is just helping the crypto miners rather than their citizens again. "The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) paid a bitcoin miner $31.7 million in energy credits in August to not mine bitcoin. During the August heat wave, ERCOT issued eight calls for voluntary energy conservation. People were asked to adjust home thermostats or delay doing laundry during the energy call."

I think I have to set up shop in Texas with some space heaters and claim my bitcoin energy credits!

Yeah, but if they pay you to not mine Bitcoin and then find out you're not mining Bitcoin, won't you be in trouble?

Re: Texas just got closer to blackouts than it has since 2021. What happened?

#92

Post by [deleted] »

nonethewiser wrote: post #21

What's stopping power companies from ramping up energy production? They know in advance there will be problems. What stopping them from just producing more? I realize there are some peculiarities of the Texas grid, but this is obviously a problem beyond Texas, as California and east coast has blackouts as well. I'm asking about all these cases. I imagine maybe this requires some additional infrastructure that simply…

[deleted]

Re: Texas just got closer to blackouts than it has since 2021. What happened?

#93

Post by briffle »

loupol wrote: post #31
scientifik wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like they're dancing around what may be a social issue; ERCOT sent an email asking people to "conserve", within 30 minutes they saw a negative impact. Is it possible some recipients saw the email and took the complete opposite action?

It wouldn't surprise me if after an email telling them to lower their consumption, consumers would anticipate the worst and instead decide to recharge any electrical appliances reliant on batteries (Power banks, EVs, etc...) "just in case". Bank/toilet paper rush style.

if I was looking at potential power cut during a heat wave in my home, I would probably lower my AC a few degrees, and if your honest, most of you would too..

Re: Texas just got closer to blackouts than it has since 2021. What happened?

#94

Post by backendanon »

According to my Google foo, around 1000 people per day have been moving to Texas in the last three years alone. Put anywhere between a half million to three quarters of a million additional people on the power grid in a three year span and the grid is bound to have issues.

Also, really like how the majority of the comments sound like Reddit /r/politics's far left, adult man child, ignorant insights.

Re: Texas just got closer to blackouts than it has since 2021. What happened?

#95

Post by Retric »

lukev wrote: post #49
gray_-_wolf wrote: post #4

> Some of these tactics have proven controversial with consumers. One program that pays big power users like cryptocurrency operations millions to conserve, has come under particular scrutiny, as Texans have been asked to conserve voluntarily for months. This is... amazing. Not in a good way.

The original idea behind this is sound. Because production and consumption must net to ~0, from the grid's perspective cutting load is just as valuable as providing generative capacity. Imagine you own a factory that typically runs 24/7 and is part of the system's base load. There is a material cost for you to shut down production. These structures were set up to make it economically viable to have these types of ins…

You achieve similar results by simply charging such customers current market rates. Nobody is going to be mining Bitcoin while paying 2.50$/kWh.

That’s the objection, it’s simply a waste of money.

Re: Texas just got closer to blackouts than it has since 2021. What happened?

#96

Post by keep_reading »

wombat-man wrote: post #15
gray_-_wolf wrote: post #4

> Some of these tactics have proven controversial with consumers. One program that pays big power users like cryptocurrency operations millions to conserve, has come under particular scrutiny, as Texans have been asked to conserve voluntarily for months. This is... amazing. Not in a good way.

Maybe they can just price electricity at different tiers of use. Or home vs business rates. Charge crypto farms more, especially if the grid is struggling.

They already do this. Commercial rates are cheaper than residential rates.

(Residential customers are getting ripped off, honestly)

Re: Texas just got closer to blackouts than it has since 2021. What happened?

#97

Post by [deleted] »

scientifik wrote: post #17
gcr wrote: post #9

The article states that the sharp drop in reserves was being “investigated,” and that it is “suspected” that a large power plant stopped working. Is observability of Texan infrastructure so poor that the _power company_ doesn’t have a comprehensive view of _which power plants are operational_?

It sounds like they're dancing around what may be a social issue; ERCOT sent an email asking people to "conserve", within 30 minutes they saw a negative impact. Is it possible some recipients saw the email and took the complete opposite action?

[deleted]

Re: Texas just got closer to blackouts than it has since 2021. What happened?

#98

Post by briffle »

wonderwonder wrote: post #71

This is politics in a nutshell. People keep voting for the same politicians so they keep the same problems. Power infrastructure is poor? Keep voting for the same people that made it that way. Lots of violent crime in your city? Keep voting for the people that release criminals back into society immediately. Politics is so binary and broken in this country that we are just making fixable issues into permanent hardshi…

I understand your point, but if I let the $OTHER party get control, they will work against my beliefs on Abortion and Guns, which are the only 2 beliefs that the parties have together taught me matters...

Re: Texas just got closer to blackouts than it has since 2021. What happened?

#99

Post by thefurdrake »

gustavus wrote: post #2

So Texas almost got close to a blackout in the last 2 years? Is this newsworthy, are we reporting on things that almost happened?

... Does something need to be an abject disaster in order to be newsworthy? This is so strange to me as a position.

In case you were asking this in good faith: Yeah, it is, for a buncha reasons. I'll theorycraft a few from my uneducated position:

1) There was a public mass email sent out, but followup wasn't forthcoming, so people might want to know what happened. People often turn to the news for this function.

b) There was grid failure that resulted in deaths because it got too cold out a while back, so people might want to know if it's likely to happen again, once more making the news about the conditions involved relevant, because it wasn't too cold this time.

iii) Some people rely on electricity to stay alive in a very-direct, medical sense, and might be so interested enough in the power grid's disposition to be concerned if someone at ERCOT farts out of turn.

Also, yes, the news routinely reports on things that almost happened. I don't even own cable TV and I know that.

Re: Texas just got closer to blackouts than it has since 2021. What happened?

#100

Post by jcranmer »

ftxbro wrote: post #5

It would have had blackouts if it didn't build all those bitcoin mines. The bitcoin mines encouraged power infrastructure development, and they can just be taken offline when high heat causes power demand spikes for air conditioning.

Doing some back-of-the-envelope calculations, it seems that a power company would make more money selling wholesale power to the open market in ERCOT than it would mining bitcoin.

The simple fact of the matter is Texas does not have sufficient electrical generation capacity to satiate its demands, especially given the record spate of hot days (it's been daily highs above 100F in Austin for two months). There's no need to add extra sources of demand to encourage new supply.

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